peters



J. J. LU'OK. Device for Regulating the Head of Water in Mill'Dams.

(No Model.)

No. 232,284.- Patented Sept. .14, 1880.

N, PETERS. mow LTHOGRAPHER WASHINGYON 0 c UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN J. LUCK, OF RIPON, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF OF HIS RIGHT TO HENRY l3. BATEMAN, OF SAME PLACE.

DEVICE FOR REGULATlNG THE HEAD OF WATER IN MILL-DAMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 232,284, dated September 14, 1880.

Application filed May 25. 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J. J. LUCK, of Ripon, in the county of Fond du Lac and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Regulating the Head of Water in Mill-Dams; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, refer ence being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pond or mill-dam the embankment of which is provided with my automatically-operatin g safetygate. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the inside of the embankment; and Fig. 3 is an axial section of the cylinder containing the piston by means of which the gate is operated.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

My invention has relation to devices for preventing the breaking through or overflowing of the dams or embankinents of ponds, streams, orothcr inclosures of water; and it consists in the construction and arrangement of parts of an automatically-operatin g gate adapted to let the water pass off when it shall reach a certain head or certain designated level, sub stantially as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the gate, which may be arranged'at any suitable point in the dam or embankment, on the inside thereof.

0 designates the walls or sides, and U the inclined bottom, of the chute or outlet through which the water escapes when the gateis raised. This gate may be of any desired construction giving it the requisite strength to resist the pressure from within, and must be weighted so as to work easily in vertical ways or grooves in the sides 0, in which it slides. It is suspended by a rod or chain, a, from one end of a lever, D, having its fulcrum in a post, D, or other suitable support.

The long arm of lever D is connected by a chain, F, with the piston'rod G of apiston or plunger, G, which works in an open-bottomed cylinder, B, with a surrounding or annular space between it and the cylinder just of sulfi- (No model.)

oient size to permit the escape of the water contained in the cylinder above the piston to the under side of this, where it may pass oil through the open bottom of the cylinder.

E is a pipe, the upper end of which is made with any desired number of branch pipes or elbows E E E which open up into the dam or pond through its embankment at different elevations, their inside months or openings 1) 0 cl being covered by a slide or valve, H, which may be conveniently operated by a rod, h, the lower end of which is hinged in a lever, z, the opposite end of which is connected by a short rod, 70, with the lower end of the slide or valve 11, so that this may be adjusted in reference to the outlets b c d from the top of the mill-dam or embankment by raising or lowering rod h, which may be held in any given position by means of a rack, l, as shown in Fi 2 of the drawings; or, if preferred, pipe E may be curved at its upper end, so as to reach through the embankment, with its curved end extending down into the water below the freezing-point, that part of the pipe which extends down into the dam being provided at different intervals up its height with a series of aper-' tures, which may be closed by a slide or valve constructed and operating substantially in the same manner as the slide-valve H. In either case pipeE should be provided with a vent-hole at its upper end to permit the water to flow through it freely when the slide is opened.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings, the operation of my invention will readily be understood.

The water risingin the dam, pond, orstream, as the case may be, is prevented from overflowing its banks by opening one or more of the inlets to pipe E, according to the head of water desired in the dam. The surplus of water will flow through these inlets, down through pipe E, into the cylinder 13 at its lower end, outside the embankment,:pressin g by its weight upon the piston within the cylinder, which, with its descent or downward stroke, will pull upon chain F and the outer end of the gatelever D, which raises its inner end, and with it rod to and the gate A attached thereto, thus permittin g a sufficient quantity of water to escape under the gate to bring the head of water in the dam down to its proper level, when the gate will again close and remain closed until the water shall rise to a sufficient height to repeat the operation. The water within the cylinder is discharged between the annular space surrounding the piston down into the lower part of the cylinder and out through its bottom.

Havingthus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States- 1. A device for automatically controlling or regulating the level or head of water in a water-eourse or mill-pond, composed of an out flow-pipe having a series of inlets from the pond arranged at different elevations and closed by a suitably-construeted slide or valve at its upper end, and connected at its lower end with a hollow drum or cylinder provided with a loosely-fitting piston, which said piston is connected by a rod or chain with the long arm of a lever having a vertically-sliding weighted gate suspended from its opposite end, substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and set forth.

2. The combination of the weighted gate A, sliding in vertical grooves or ways in the chute C 0, chain a, lever D, connecting rod or chain F, piston G, working in the hollow drum or cylinder B, and branched pipe E E E E provided with the slide valve H, all constructed and combined to operate substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein shown and specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as 

